Aeon Must Die! from Limestone Games and Focus Home Interactive is a fast-paced flashy arena-style beat ‘em up on PS4. Learn more in our Aeon Must Die! review!

 

Aeon Must Die! from Limestone Games and Focus Home Interactive is a fast-paced flashy arena-style beat ‘em up on PlayStation 4. You play as the titular Aeon, the dreaded Emperor of the Armada. It turns out that his generals have decided now was a good time to betray him and have left him for dead. In his weakened state, he uses his last ounce of energy to merge with you, and he’s now focused on one thing and one thing only: to exact his revenge on those that have betrayed him!

The good news is that this means Aeon can project its skills and memories to you as needed so that you can take control of the body you have to destroy anyone stupid enough to stand in your way. That is, as long as you have enough respect – more on this in a bit. The story for Aeon Must Die! is told by way of stylized comic book style cutscenes that will give you some insight into the world you’re about to experience, which is a good way to do things given that the game’s art style helps to make everything pop.

 

You will control your character with the left analog stick or the D-Pad, attacking with the Square button. You can dash with the L2 button to get closer to enemies – or to get some distance between your character and them. To grab an opponent, just press the Circle button. You can taunt enemies with the X button to draw them towards you as you get ready to unleash a world of pain with a combo. If you time things right, you can parry an attack with the R2 button, leaving your enemy wide open for a counterattack. The Triangle button is for stronger but slower attacks. Your offensive and defensive actions will increase or lower your flames. Attack too much, and you’ll overheat. Defend too much, and you will be drained. When in either state, a single strike will take you down!

When you’re defeated in battle, your purpose will be diminished. All is not lost since you can seek the one who defeated you and reclaim your lost purpose by destroying them. Regular enemies will run away after stealing your purpose, and they must then be hunted down. With every point an enemy ends up stealing, their resolve and strength will grow. Generals won’t flee from the battlefield, but the bump they get to their power will be considerably higher. Just be careful because if you lose all of your purpose, you won’t be able to regain it. Lose all purpose, and you will disappear, and only Aeon will remain. You can, of course, decide to call upon the last fragment of your will and die with honor instead, restoring your purpose but rewinding time back to the last echo.

 

Show that you have purpose and that your combat skills are up to the standards of emperor Aeon, and he will grant you respect points. These can be used to unlock new combat abilities as you progress through the game, which is why it’s important that you learn from your mistakes, try to complete battles as fast as possible, and get the highest rank you can for each chapter. The more upgrades you add to your character, the higher the cost for subsequent upgrades, thus forcing you to get good or miss out on getting enough respect points to unlock the rest.

You’ll be joined on this adventure by Leech, an AI-powered bike that you can improve by collecting power modules that can unlock additional abilities for it. Once you get a module, be sure to take a moment to travel to the bike maintenance menu back at the camp to enable it. These abilities include having Leech rush into battle to tank a hit and knock away an enemy, have it drive by and spray your opponent with oil to slow it down, or having Leech create a ring of fire around you so that the current active enemy is trapped in there with you, thus preventing enemies on the sidelines from assisting said enemy.

 

Trophy-wise, Aeon Must Die! has a full trophy list with a Platinum. The list includes 18 Bronze trophies, 13 Silver trophies, and 4 Gold trophies. There are trophies for completing each mayor boss battle, for getting one of the different endings the game has to offer, for completing all side-stories, for acquiring all of Aeon’s powers by purchasing them with respect points, for having three bike upgrades equipped at the same time, defeating 13 enemies in 3 minutes during the same fight, and more.

Aeon Must Die! is a game you’re either going to love or hate. It has a unique art style, an arena-style beat ‘em up gameplay system, and a story that you’re going to have to pay attention to if you want to understand who all of the characters are, what they’re fighting for, and how you found yourself in your current predicament. Aeon Must Die! is out on PlayStation 4 with a $19.99 asking price.

Disclaimer
This Aeon Must Die! review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Focus Home Interactive.